The Waikato Times. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 28, 1878

Waikato Times, Volume XII, Issue 1015, 28 December 1878, Page 2

The Waikato Times.

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 28, 1878

-'■ • - ■ - - - -"." - - ~~~*^ ) Equal and exact justice to all men, < Of whatever state or persuasion, religious or vohtical. * •• * » * + Here shall the Preaa the People's right maintain, Gnawed by infiuenco and unbribed by ' gain. k j I f '

In the issue of lhe Waikato TiaiEa published on the 24th instant a ' Dunedin telegram stated that it had been announced that the Press railway passes are to be abolished on and after the Ist of January, and I that the intimation is received with disfavor all over Otago, We should I imagine that it was so, for & more unfair and unbusinesslike au alterar tion was never contemplated by the railway department. The question of free railway passes was mooted last session m the ) House, and it it was then stated that there were some thirteen bun- > dred such passes m existence, and the Minister for Works intimated ) his intention of remodelling the system on which they were issued. > This is no more than is needed, for the principle is a just one that these passes should not be issued, unless the liovemmeht, that is the public, receive its quid pro quo. Iv such a number of instances, it cannol, and does not. Members of the Assembly and of the Upper, House, for m I stance, fcnjoy > *&fee; j*lpa^ses» to" t why they ShoUttl *)tfo^!8o, titiiess when attending on^thelr $*£r^atafentary duties we areata loss t» i understand. It was said that oue ' member, at least, being a com mercial traveller, when not engaged us a senator used such pass when travelling 011 the business of the mercantile firm by which he was employed. Cedainly, this is a case ) for calling m and reconsideration. And, doubtless, there are many such. Bnt why the Press should be * selected for wholesale prohibition m ) the future enjoyment' of free passes' on tbe railways is difficult to fathom, unless that, unwilling to cut down the privileges of members of the c Legislature and other official -, the I only reduction that could be made lo any large extent, is by cancelling the Press passes. Bnt of all those issued, it is just the Press which should not have been interfered ' with. The granting of these passes is no favor to the Press It is a way and a cheap way, too, by which the railway department saves a large amount of expenditure. If Press men paid for their rail wiy ticket-!, and the railways paid ' for lhe advertisements which are coniinially appearing m the columns of the dnily journals the department would fiud, on sti iking a balance, that the obligation was quite tbe other way. Of course the railway department may refrain from advertising, and so indeed n:ay any man of business, but it has come to be pretty generally understood as an axiom that the maw ■ who does not advertise his business will soon have no business left to advertise; and it is just so with railways. The grand object is to make them pay. If thay do not, tlie public will soon ask why this is so- Railway expenditure is ? the chief outlay of the Government and the colony looks not merely to possess so many hundred miles of • railway m return, but lo have those lir*.'oi> so manned tlat gradually t ey shall co no to pay their own ' 1 00St(l(qon3trii;tioii an 1 wmkip^ a»4

ultimately by increased profits lessen taxation m other directions. Successful r-.iilway administration i m inture will come to be the } of capacity m that member j of the Cabinst who holds the portfolio qf Minister of Works, nnd, if £hlere*be truth m the Dunedin tele'^ram referred to, the present holder irjf'it i^-tftking a mistaken course, for most cijytaiuly the pvess will reseat such^au injustioe and will as surely as the free passes are withdrawn withdraw the numerous free advertisements and .notioes which the riilway department has hitherto enjoyed.